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SOHO Celebrates People In Preservation online for the first time
May/June 2020
 San Diego's countywide preservation group, Save Our Heritage Organisation, celebrates their 37th annual People In Preservation Awards with an online presentation for the first time in the organization's history. Honoring a total of nine unique projects and associated individuals or groups, this year features a diverse group of projects varying from the rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of an Irving Gill structure in Oceanside, the comprehensive surveying of over 3,000 plants in San Diego's historic Presidio Park, and the meticulous restoration of one of San Diego's most iconic landmarks in Point Loma.
From first-time restorations by historic home-loving couples to dedicated preservationists and historians operating throughout the county for years, SOHO will celebrate each individual, group, and organization on Thursday, May 21, the third week of National Preservation Month. The winners will be recognized for their efforts in residential and commercial restoration, adaptive reuse, stewardship efforts, preservation leadership, and a few additional unique projects.
You will not find too many individuals more dedicated to the service of historic structures throughout San Diego county as historian Sarai Johnson. As a highly respected and valued member of the San Diego historic preservation community, her efforts in architectural research, designation, advocacy, and more have made her an admirable leader within the field, earning her the Preservation Leadership Award. Sarai speaks for all types of historic structures. From neighborhood homes to stewardship of some of San Diego's most iconic landmarks, serving as the Marston House official historian and as a dedicated advocate for it, she does it all. Acting in her roles as both a professional and volunteer, Sarai defines what it means to be a preservation leader with an unyielding passion for all things historic.
When Neil Gardis of 'Ohana Industries, Ltd., was awarded the contract to restore the 1891 Point Loma Lighthouse located down at the tip of Point Loma on Pelican Point, it was expected to be about six months of work. As with many projects, historic or otherwise, once Neil and his team began carefully disassembling the historic lighthouse, it became clear that there was much more damage done than originally inferred. This led to a two-and-a-half-year extensive restoration. Using the original architectural drawings, Neil, along with team member Ryan Strack, ironworker, and laborers Nickolas Bliler and Kevin Goodman painstakingly recrafted the lighthouse from top to bottom. Completed in February 2020, the now beautifully restored, stable and fully functioning original 129-year-old lighthouse literally shines with all its former glory.
Commitment to historic preservation comes in many forms, including documenting historic landscapes, and Parish Rye did just that in his 2018 Presidio Park Plant Survey. Parish's extensive survey, highlighting 3,436 plants, is the third survey to be done of Presidio Park. His findings are presented alongside an original 1937 survey, followed by a 1969 survey, allowing insight into the various plants that grow at the park today, but also investigation into what remains from the original plants that George Marston, developer of the park, rooted in the 1930s. Including a GPS modern plant inventory, 207-species plant encyclopedia and recorded history from the previous surveys, the Presidio Park Plant Survey in its entirety is an extremely valuable educational resource for the public, horticultural researchers, and the ongoing development of the history of one of San Diego's most important historic sites.
Every once in a while, a historic preservation project comes along that is so unique, it requires its own award title. This year, archivist Bruce Semelsberger is taking home the Golden Spike Stewardship Award, honoring his dedicated efforts in the development of the Southwest Railway Library. His award is named after the ceremonial spike symbolizing the connection of the First Transcontinental Railroad across the United States, and Bruce's work also serves as an important connection by bringing the history of railroads in the Southwest to the people of the greater San Diego area and beyond. Part of the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum Association operating in Campo, California, the Southwest Railway Library includes biographies, catalogs, detailed maps, accident reports, deeds, diaries of workers, surveys, blueprints, video, audio, print, and so many more types of resources making it one of the most extensive private collections of railroad-related documents and an important resource for researchers and the public alike.
On Seagaze Drive in Oceanside you'll find the classic-with-a-modern-twist Italian restaurant, Blade 1936. This building, originally designed in 1936 by Master Architect Irving Gill, served as the home of the newspaper, the Oceanside Daily Blade-Tribune, from 1936 through the 1960s. Designed in the modern Art Deco style, this building was one of Gill's last designs before his death, and the façade remains intact, with the banner for Blade 1936 hovering just below the original Blade-Tribune News inscription. The interior of the restaurant features a newsprint covered wall, representing the structure's storied past. The two-and-a-half-year long renovation resulted in an adaptive reuse project that both brings new life to, and honors the past of this historic building—a fitting gift for Gill's 150th birthday which was celebrated on April 26, 2020.
The S.S. Encinitas and S.S. Moonlight, often referred to as the Encinitas Boathouses, are two of the few remaining examples of Southern California's iconic 20th century novelty roadside architecture, and could be originally be seen from the historic 101 Highway. Designed and built in the 1920s, these landlocked boathouses came under threat in the mid-2000s when they were put up for sale. In 2007, the Encinitas Preservation Association formed as a non-profit in order to save the Boathouses, successfully purchasing them in 2008, with affordable housing as a component and serving as their dedicated watchmen ever since. After years of stewardship, restoration and stabilization, in 2019 the Encinitas Preservation Association achieved their goal of getting these two landmarks listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The achievement of this goal and their continued dedication to the Boathouses ensure the preservation of these iconic buildings for years to come.
Dan Floit of Floit Properties, Inc., took on the restoration and renovation of two large historic homes in the Bankers Hill neighborhood. The Meade House and the John Sinks House sit directly next door to each other on 6th avenue, highly visible and facing San Diego's famous Balboa Park. Boasting Arts and Crafts Era and Prairie style designs, these two homes received a well-deserved preservation face-lift, including the restoration of the historic stucco texture, restoration or repair of the original wood windows, and adding in of lost details such as the wooden porch trellis at the John Sinks House. Dan was involved in every decision throughout the project, and aimed to honor the original historic design of these homes. In addition, Dan has brought these two homes forward for historic designation by the Historical Resources Board of San Diego.
Two couples are being awarded for the restoration of their historic homes in San Diego's La Jolla and North Park neighborhoods. When Brandon and Kate Bryan bought their Spanish Revival style, North Park home in 2010, it had undergone multiple renovations that resulted in the removal of the original front porch, alteration of columns, removal of arched openings, and more. Luckily, a past resident of the home provided the Bryan's with original sketches and photographs of this 1926 dwelling. Additional historic photos of the home were found, leading to a thoughtful and complete restoration of the façade of the home. Now the Weston and Freda Hicks House appears just as it did in the 1920s: a classic Spanish Revival style design with a semi-enclosed stucco front porch, elegant arched openings, and decorative tile inlay replicated from the original.
And in La Jolla, Dr. Hal Meltzer and Dr. Adriana Diakiw restored their neglected 1929 Tudor Revival style home. Their home is one in a group of three English cottage inspired homes designed by Florence Palmer, one of San Diego's most prominent architects in the 1920s, and referred to as "The Little Peoples' Block." The restoration included removing extensive overgrown ivy on the home's signature steep, sloping roof lines, repairing the damaged stucco, stabilizing the foundation, and repairing and replicating the original wood shingle roof. The end result is a beautifully restored home with its original salmon-colored stucco standing proud with its two siblings. SOHO applauds the couple for their care in restoring such a unique and important home near the sea, where development is continually threatening old homes.
SOHO's People In Preservation Awards will be held on Thursday, May 21. In lieu of an event ceremony in the picturesque gardens of the historic Marston House Museum in Balboa Park, the winners this year will receive their honor through digital means via SOHO's website. Find the digital awards ceremony and more information about SOHO, membership, its historic sites and museums, and historic preservation advocacy and education programs at www.SOHOsandiego.org.
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